


The boyfriend dilemma

by sereniteasocks



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 10:12:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9379853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sereniteasocks/pseuds/sereniteasocks
Summary: Balthazar, upon being asked to 'go outside' with Pedro, finds himself saying he has a boyfriend.





	

**Author's Note:**

> All of this, apart from the last couple of sentences, were written in March of 2015. I just happened upon it, so it's not canon compliant with Lovely Little Losers.

Balthazar and Pedro managed to get outside, despite everyone trying to talk to either of them, or both of them, at some point. Pedro had said something about air, and his tone had been suggestive of something, and they all had just nodded and backed of like that, some with a smile. It was no longer something Balthazar might have dreamt up, it was real. Balthazar wasn't ready for it to be real.  
”Nice air out here” Pedro said, whipping his arms around, then laughing at himself.   
”Yeah, real nice” Balthazar responds, with a nod, while inside there are forces at war, all of the them confused.  
”Hm, look, I really wanted to talk to you about something. About, well, us, I guess..” Pedro makes a small pause, making this Balthazar's shot. Balthazar's very time limited shot, leaving no time to think, leading to a blurting out of;  
”I have a boyfriend!”  
”W-what?”  
What indeed.  
”..Yep...”  
”What?...I mean, when...who?”  
”A..couple of weeks ago...when I stopped going to football practice to watch!...I started to go to this after school music thingy...Dem!”  
”.:Demetrius?”  
”He doesn't like being called that..” Balthazar thinks, anyway.. ”So he goes by Dem. Or Demi, when I'm trying to be funny. Haha.”  
”Haha?”  
”Maybe you have to be there..”  
”I thought he was dating Helena?”  
”No, they broke up, ages ago. I think she's dating Hermia now.”  
”Aha. Well.. I'm really happy for you. I'm gonna assume he's a great person, because you know you deserve the world, right?”  
As if the guilt wasn't already devouring Balthazar's heart.. Balthazar still manages to fake a little smile, not faking red cheeks.  
”Thank you.”

***

”So?” Ursula begins as soon as she catches Balthazar again.  
”Eh, Pedro wanted to talk. About us.”  
”Oh! What did he say?”  
”Nothing, because I..”  
”Yes?” Ursula pauses, then looks at Balthazar with big eyes. ”No talking needed?”  
”I said I have a boyfriend....”  
”...you don't, do you?”   
”No..”  
”Then why..?”  
”I panicked. I thought he might say something..”  
”Would that be a bad thing?”  
”Right now, it would.”  
”Why?”  
”Because I don't know stuff anymore. I know he's my friend again, and I know I like spending time with him, but I don't know if I have fully forgiven him yet, and I don't know whether it's something I..I'm allowed not to do? And I still..I know I still like him, but I don't know if it's a good idea now, and I don't know if it ever will be. And I don't know if he were to say something, that he'd mean it, that I wouldn't be something to fall back on, or whatever.”  
”Well..couldn't you have said that?””  
”I don't want to confuse him.”  
”I'd say saying you have a boyfriend when you don't is confusing him.”  
”I'm not good under pressure!”  
”Alright. Are you going to tell him?”  
”About what?”  
”Everything? Anything? I'm thinking about the fact that you aren't actually dating someone mostly.”  
”I mean..some day, of course..”  
”When?”  
”When I have a better explanation.”

***

”Good talk?” Ben hits Pedro's shoulder with his own.  
”Well, uhm.. Yeah, yeah, I guess.”  
”You guess?”  
”Well, Balthazar told me he has a boyfriend, so that's good for him, right?”  
”Hm.”  
”Hm?”  
”The way I see it, Balthazar having a boyfriend..either you're gonna be happy for Balthy because Balth's your friend, right? Or you're gonna be sad about it because you maybe like Balthazar?”  
”Well, I'm..”  
”You're both. Because you want Balthazar to be happy, because you love Balthazar, but you also don't want Balthy to be happy with someone else, because you're in love with him.”  
Pedro stays silent.  
”Have you told Balthy that?”  
”I was going to..”  
”Pedro, as someone who liked someone, but refused to acknowledge it, and spent years pretending to dislike the other person only to become so much more happier when I finally became honest with myself and that person.. be honest.”  
”Even if the person has a boyfriend and you don't want to get into the way of that? Even if you weren't sure even before that that the timing was right?”  
”You've let dishonesty about bad stuff lead to general suffering, why not try being honest about nice stuff? Logically, that should lead to general happiness.”  
Pedro just shook his head, with a slight, dejected smile.  
”You're in a relationship for like, a minute.."  
”Yes. Yes, and you become a very wise person. You should try it.”

***

More air is needed. Maybe Hero's room can, once again, be the rescue. Pedro enters again, this time with even more confusion, and rather less hope. His brother is still there.  
“I was actually getting a bit lonely..” John says, actually smiling.  
“Why not go downstairs then?”  
“Not that lonely.”  
“Lonely in as in the need to give some brotherly advice?”  
“Sure. Are we going to eat cake and talk about boys now?”  
“Yeah. You're interested in anyone special?”  
“I'm only interested in people who are special.”  
“Alright. But actually..” Pedro puts his hand through his hair, the best way to handle any situation.  
“Balthy-friend issues?”  
“Yeah, boyfriend issues. As in, Balthy has someone. As in, maybe it shouldn't be an issue.”  
“What? Who?”  
“Demetrius? Or Dem? Or Demi?”  
“You mean the biggest dick ever? I highly doubt it.”  
“Well, Balthazar told me so...”  
“Are you sure Balthazar was telling the truth?”  
“Well, yeah? I can't see why Balthy would lie..”  
“Well, what did you say?”  
“That I wanted to talk about us.. Oh shit.”  
His face goes blank. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

***

“Hey again Balthazar.”   
“Oh, hi.”  
“Is Dem coming tonight?”  
“Well, no one knew..”  
“Right. You have a gig soon, right? Will he be there?”  
“Oh, I don't...alright, I'm sorry. I'm not actually dating him. I panicked. I'm sorry. You know right? I'm sorry.”  
“I'm – I'm just...why? I don't understand.”  
“You don't?”  
“No, I don't understand why you'd do that...Or..maybe I do..”  
“I'm..what were you going to say? Before? Outside?"  
“You don't want to hear it, or do you?”  
“I mean..do I?”  
"..alright. Ben was right. I hate to admit it, but he was. I'm just going to say it. Balthazar, I like you as more than a friend, and I've been a sucky friend, and I want to become a better person and therefore..a..better more than friends person to you. If you'd like that, and you're not so freaked out by the idea that you'd say anything to get out of it.”  
“It's not that, I swear it isn't. It's just..things are complicated, and I panicked because..I mean, you obviously know that, but I would have to explain stuff, and they are confusing to me so I mean..they'll be confusing to you to, and I didn't want to deal with it. And I clearly was not thinking.”  
“Care to explain now, then?”  
“I've been in love with you for years, you know that, and a couple of months ago, if you had said those things, I'd be fainting or something equally embarrassing and melodramatic. But that would never happen, because you've never felt the same way, not in the slightest, you fell in love with other people, Beatrice, and I wrote an ode to you and you thought it was a joke. And then you screwed up and hurt someone who we all love, and my image of you..well, it broke a bit, I guess. And I'm still not sure how I feel about that, how I feel about everything, and when you say you feel this way.. It's hard for me. I don't know if you mean it, or if you've known how I felt, and you just..feel sorry for me in some way, or you just want to be with someone to get over Beatrice or whatever, and I don't know. I don't know anything. And I don't want to start something that could hurt me so much, but I also don't want to leave out the possibility of something happening, because in the end, I still think about you, constantly, and..well..yeah.”  
“Yeah. You're right, that's confusing. I'm willing to wait, though, if you are. For you to figure things out. For me to show you that this is not something I take lightly."  
"I, I think I already knew that. It's just, it might take a lot of time. But if you are willing to wait, then I am willing to wait."  
"Good" Pedro says, smiling, and takes Balthazar's hand. Barely any time has passed, it true. But things just seem to, fit.


End file.
